The cutting rejoinders, the secrets, the lies and the laughs will continue: Lifetime is giving "Devious Maids" a third season. Deadline.com confirmed it this evening.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how Lifetime was taking its jolly old time giving "Devious Maids" a renewal, which indicated some sort of behind-the-scenes wrangling over costs and fees between ABC Studios and the network. The show ended season two in July and the two sides had to make a decision for renewal by the end of this month. They finished a new deal just in time.
Given the size of the cast and the relatively big names attached to it, it's fair to say it's Lifetime's priciest production right now. (A source told me the budgets are around $2.5 million per episode before Georgia's generous tax credits, which reduces the costs to closer to $1.8 million for ABC Studios.)
Fortunately, from a ratings standpoint, the show did well. Season two, it averaged a respectable 3.1 million viewers (counting DVR usage for up to a week.).
That is down from 3.8 million season one, but arguably, the show was up against tougher competition this year on Sunday nights than in 2013.
The frothy dramedy by "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry is fictionally based in Beverly Hills but is shot locally. Season one, it was at EUE Screen Gems as its headquarters. Season two, it used a former beer distributing plant in Stone Mountain.
The Deadline story said keeping Cherry on was crucial in the negotiations. That makes sense. The tasty, sharp-tongued dialogue, the delectable plot twists and the overall feel is all signature Cherry. Without him, it would merely be a pale imitation of a Cherry production and who wants that? For those of you who liked "Desperate Housewives," "Devious Maids" feels very similar and is equally enjoyable in many ways.
To alleviate his workload, veteran showrunner Ric Swartzlander who, like Cherry, comes from a comedy background, has been brought in as executive producer/co-showrunner, and Brian Tanen, who has been on Devious Maids since the beginning as producer/supervising producer and also worked for Cherry on Desperate Housewives, will also serve as co-showrunner. They will co-run the show with Cherry, who will remain as executive producer/showrunner.
Deadline noted that a new Lifetime drama "The Lottery" has not done nearly as well, which certainly helped "Devious Maids."
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